Chamber and committees

I wrote to the UK Immigration Minister in July expressing concern that the Scottish Government was not consulted in advance of these measures being adopted, and seeking assurance from the UK Government that EU Treaty rights, and the dignity of EEA nationals, are being respected. This letter has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre and can be accessed using Bib number 59225. The UK Immigration Minister replied in September, and we are waiting for confirmation from the UK Government that they are content for us to publish their response.

Scottish Government officials have had no further engagement with Police Scotland. Rather than dealing directly with Edinburgh City Council on this issue, officials have been working with the CoSLA Migration, Population and Diversity Team since June to get more clarity from the Home Office on these operations in Scotland.

I have a longstanding request to meet the UK Immigration Minister and intend to raise this issue in person when we meet.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

SPS considers that flu immunisation is an important factor in maintaining the health of staff to ensure continuity of service provision. However, as the majority of staff are not eligible for free NHS flu vaccinations as they do not meet the Scottish Government’s 2017 seasonal flu vaccination programme ‘at risk’ definition, an immunisation programme is provided through the SPS Occupational Health provider, Optima Health. Those who do meet this definition are encouraged to visit their own GP to be immunised.

We are members of the EU and must continue to comply with the law as it stands. This means we cannot make the payment of a living wage, which is higher than the minimum wage, a condition of public contracts. It is not yet clear what impact the terms of any deal which the UK reaches with the EU will have on this. It is worth noting that the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, as currently drafted, will reserve to the UK Government and Parliament control over all matters currently covered by EU law including public procurement.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government is committed to fair and equal pay and tackling inequalities in society, and in line with existing legislation, took every opportunity through the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act to tackle the Living Wage through procurement. In October 2015 we published Statutory Guidance on Addressing Fair Work Practices, including the Living Wage, in procurement. This guidance requires all public bodies from 1 November 2015 to include, where relevant, a question on Fair Work practices, including the Living Wage, in their procurement exercises, to be evaluated along with other relevant criteria.

The total capital value of PFI contracts procured since 1999 by (a) the Scottish Government is £400 million. This figure comprises two contracts procured by Scottish Government agencies the Scottish Prison Service (Addiewell Prison) and Transport Scotland (M80 Stepps to Haggs).

The total value of PFI contracts procured since 1999 by (b) other public bodies including health boards and local authorities is £4.661 billion. This figure comprises seventy one contracts.

The total capital value of revenue funded NPD and hub contracts procured since 2007 by (a) the Scottish Government is £779 million. This figure comprises two contracts within the current NPD/hub investment programme first announced in November 2010 which were procured by the Scottish Government agency Transport Scotland (M8, M73, M74 Motorway Improvements and the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route / Balmedie Tipperty).

The total capital value of revenue funded NPD and hub contracts procured since 2007 by (b) other public bodies including health boards and local authorities is £2.194 billion. This figure comprises forty contracts within the current NPD/hub investment programme (£1.819 billion) and four other NPD contracts (£375 million) procured prior to this programme.

Further information can be found on the Scottish Government website by way of the following link www.gov.scot

The Scottish Government has not awarded any public contracts to Boots or Boots Alliance since 2007. We do not hold contract information with regards to agencies of the Scottish Government, these bodies are responsible for their own procurement decisions.

The Scottish Government is determined to act decisively on tax avoidance where we have the powers to do so. We have taken a simple and clear but robust approach to tackling avoidance of the devolved taxes.

The procurement Regulations contain grounds for the exclusion of a supplier from a procurement process, including circumstances in which a supplier has breached tax or social security obligations. Statutory guidance published on 17 March 2016 provides advice on dealing with suppliers who have been involved in the non-payment of tax, and explains how and when they can be excluded from public contracts.

Public bodies are encouraged to use these mechanisms to help tackle those suppliers who do not comply with their tax obligations.

The Scottish Government recognises that this will be an unsettling time for all residents, families and employees affected by the announcement by Bield Housing and Care. Our priority is to ensure continuity of service for residents with no compromise in the quality of their care.

Since being alerted to Bield's decision on 7th September 2017, officials have engaged with Bield, the Care Inspectorate and Chief Officers of Integration Authorities to ensure plans are put in place for residents. This is to ensure that residents’ care needs are a priority and that they will continue to be met in an appropriate setting. The Scottish Government is actively working with key stakeholders and this engagement will continue. Bield has indicated that there are ongoing talks with other providers that could mean a small number of homes remain open.

We understand that Bield has taken this decision because of the long term unsustainable nature of their business model.

The National Contingency Planning Group, which includes representatives from Scottish Government, COSLA, Care Inspectorate, Integration Authorities, trade unions, Bield Housing and Care and provider organisations, met on 19^th October. This group considered how national and local partners can manage the impact of this decision particularly in respect of residents, their families and the workforce. Approximately 160 residents will be affected by this decision.

The premise of the question is incorrect, Skip stop trains are recorded as a part cancellation which counts against them in meeting their performance targets.

The percentage of trains that operated skip stop is contained on the following table. The ScotRail franchise is managed by financial years rather than calendar year therefore the following information represents this.

Scottish Government is investing £5 billion to help deliver the best railway Scotland has ever had. The investment includes the electrification of the Glasgow Central to Edinburgh via Fauldhouse route which in turn will allow the new faster, longer and greener Class 385 electric fleet to operate from the May 2019 timetable change, providing more seats to accommodate the passenger demand.

In the short term, my officials at Transport Scotland will continue to work with ScotRail to identify opportunities to ease overcrowding on the 1721 Edinburgh to Glasgow via Fauldhouse service. ScotRail has committed to launching several initiatives to better manage crowding pressures. These include creating colour coded train information to provide advance notice to passengers, where they can expect services will be busier than usual, and fitment of automatic passenger counting equipment on trains which will allow ScotRail to better manage its train fleet to changing demand.